prepared by Ros Hancock – 23rd November 2025
Call to worship: Come and worship the Lord Jesus, Kings of Kings, yet servant of all. Come with your dreams, your longings, your hopes, and all those people on your heart; and seek blessing and healing. Amen
Prayers:
On this, the last day of the Christian year, we thank you Lord for the year that has gone and ask that you walk beside us into the year to come.
We thank you for the beauty of your created world which we see as we look around us. We thank you for our neighbours and friends and families.
We thank you for the stories we read in your word that show us how we can survive and get through hard times – so many times have your people suffered and yet they, and we, are still aware of you with us in that suffering.
Most of all Lord we thank you for the love that you have and continue to show to us all through the life and sacrifice of your son, our Lord – Jesus Christ. Amen
And a prayer of confession:
Dear God, where we have been blind to the needs of others: forgive us.
Where we have been slow to take responsibility for our actions; forgive us
Where we have not taken judgement seriously; forgive us.
Help us to forgive ourselves as you forgive us and give us your peace. Amen
Let’s share together now in the prayer that Jesus taught us as we say:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name…….
Ephesians 1, 15 – 23: “Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God’s people everywhere, I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come. God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church. And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.”
Matthew 25, 31 – 46: “But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’ “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’ “Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons. For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’ “Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’ “And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’ “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.””
Hymn: 256: When I needed a neighbour were you there?
| 1 When I needed a neighbour, were you there, were you there? When I needed a neighbour, were you there? And the creed and the colour and the name won’t matter, were you there? 2 I was hungry and thirsty, were you there, were you there? I was hungry and thirsty, were you there? 3 I was cold, I was naked, were you there, were you there? I was cold, I was naked, were you there? | 4 When I needed a shelter, were you there, were you there? When I needed a shelter, were you there? 5 When I needed a healer, were you there, were you there? When I needed a healer, were you there? 6 Wherever you travel I’ll be there, I’ll be there, wherever you travel I’ll be there. And the creed and the colour and the name won’t matter, I’ll be there. Sydney Carter (1915–2004) |
Sermon:
Today is the Sunday that we celebrate Christ as King. But what does that mean for us today?
Kings and Queens nowadays are really no more than powerless figureheads however loved they may be, but in Jesus time and in the history of both the Jewish people and own history they were all powerful and could do what they liked, good or bad.
For many years the Jews had no King, but rather a series of leaders chosen by God.
Those he chose would never, in the usual sense of the word, have been chosen as official leaders: God chose and used someone’s little brother, somebody who seems to have been disabled in some way, the son of a Canaanite and, their greatest leader of all…a woman!! The Jewish people begged God to give them a King because they felt they needed stronger leadership in order to effectively follow God’s plan for them, and anyway all the other countries around them had a King…..
So the stories and understanding of a King in the history of the Jewish people was strong and the character of a King, both then, and in our own history, was integral to the ethos of the Kingdom. His word was Law and the everyday life of his subjects was affected by royal priorities.
But Jesus too was a King. We know that because his coming as King was prophesied by Isaiah, Daniel, Moses, Ezekiel, Hosea, Micah and many other prophets; the Magi searched for him after seeing the rising of a new star; Herod was terrified of him; and the crowds cheered for him on Palm Sunday as he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey; and our reading from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians reminds us of Jesus’ Kingship and authority. In fact in one modern version of the Bible these verses are headed ‘Knowing the power of the King’.
Jesus, however, wasn’t the kind of king they expected despite all the prophesies…. He was a king on the edge.
Just as Kings of old affected the countries and the people they ruled, so our King – Jesus shows us the Kingdom that he rules over. When we live in God’s Kingdom Christ is the King who shows us what his Kingdom is like. Jesus – who spends time with the marginalised, the oppressed, and the forgotten; who is committed to those who nobody values or respects and identifies with the least of these. When we look at them, we look at him, when we help them, we help him. These are the people who need us, who make us feel uncomfortable, who are demanding and are even unpleasant. As the song says:’ these are the ones we should serve, these are the ones we should love, all these are neighbours to us and you…’
Our gospel reading today is a hard one about judgement and justice…
Justice is a profound human longing – starting as very young children. How often do we hear the refrain ‘It’s not fair’ when children feel hard done by or wrongly punished. Some parents have to go to great lengths to show their children they are being fair – I’ve heard of one mother who kept the receipts of all Christmas presents so she could prove to one of her children that both had been treated equally!
And I know my mother used to say to me quite frequently when I felt things were unjust that ‘Life isn’t fair, so you’d better get used to it!’ But fairness is not always the same as justice – as what is right for one person may not be right for another.
One of the great institutions that came into being in the 20th Century was the International Court of Justice at The Hague in the Netherlands. Started by the League of Nations as the Permanent Court of International Justice, it was re-established after the Second World War as the United Nations and the International Court of Justice…. The worldwide community coming together and declaring not to stand by and watch injustice flourish.
Matthew, in our reading today invites us to witness the way in which Jesus’ justice will be exercised. Goats and sheep are very similar – particularly the breeds that they had at the time, so to separate them was not always easy. They often grazed together, but needed to be separated at the end of the day so the goats, being less hardy could be kept warm at night. But this is not, of course, about sheep and goats…it’s about us and how we treat other people.
When Jesus returns, as we are promised he will; his hope is to find people whose love for God is obvious in their relationships. His Kingdom is about union and communion it seems, which means its also about mercy, forgiveness, non-violence, letting go solidarity, service and lives of love, patience and simplicity. Loving service is the most effective form of witness to God’s love for all. We are judged by our own actions; those decisions we’ve made throughout our lives, but we’re not alone.
God’s worldview is about community and interdependence, in contrast to the developed nation’s current worldview which has become increasingly individualistic. If, as a community, we acted more as a group, we would become more aware of where the need is in our world. The sheep in this story seemed to be surprised when Jesus says they’ve fed the hungry, clothed the naked and welcomed the stranger. It wasn’t something they’d planned to do to fulfil a duty. It wasn’t because they ‘ought’ to love, – they’d just done it because they saw the need and had love in their hearts. Likewise, the goats had no idea that they’d done anything wrong – they’d just been going about their lives minding their own business; not intentionally ignoring anyone but…well that’s just the way it is……
In God’s Kingdom however, policy bows to love, domination descends to service and sacrifice, control morphs into influence and inspiration and vengeance and threats are transformed into forgiveness and blessing.
In 2020,during the first ‘Lockdown’ my street in St Albans came together in a way that would have seemed unusual until this pandemic; although I know other streets and communities did the same. A WhatsApp group was created and shopping trips organised for the most vulnerable. Each time someone put in an online order or visited the supermarket they would send a message to everyone offering to get anything they needed. A street collection for the local food-bank was organised, and others collected toiletries for a women’s refuge. It was amazing. It truly felt like the blitz spirit of the war. But it has not only helped the vulnerable in material ways but offered support in other ways. Sadly, three people died in our street of 62 houses during the Pandemic, none of them from Covid, and each time support has been offered to the grieving families and we’ve stood silently and respectfully as bodies have been driven away: Something that would never have happened before all this because we didn’t know each other, hadn’t built relationships, or cared. And that group continues to this day with people offering things they no longer need to others in the street, asking for recommendations for window cleaners and builders etc.
A famous American evangelist of the beginning of the 20th Century – Billy Sunday was once asked ‘What should I do to go to Hell?’ He answered ‘Nothing!’ A similar, more famous quote often attributed to Edmund Burke goes along the same lines – ‘All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing’.
As we look forward to Advent and Christmas, we celebrate the King who came among us. He came to be alongside us in all that we do and are. If we too come alongside people we will see their immediate needs. If on the other hand we maintain a distance, we will miss, or misunderstand their real needs. From a distance, we may think people have ‘only themselves to blame’ or should pull themselves together and get on with things, but when we truly get to know people we can find that it’s not as simple as that.
There used to be a programme called ‘The secret millionaire’ on the TV, I’m not sure if it’s still on and I’ve only watched it a couple of times, but it showed the vicious circle that the poor can so easily get into and how, even the millionaires could, once they got to know them, sympathise and understand their predicament, and they usually, at the end gave them some money to help them out of a particular need and back onto a even path.
Matthew makes it quite clear that, ultimately, only love matters, and all love comes from God, however it is labelled. We are all told not to judge people these days, so the idea of God as judge is a difficult one. But our reading today shows that we are judged not by others, or even by God, but by our own actions or lack of them. When we calculate our actions or do things for thanks…..then we already have our reward here and now. When we act in love, with no pretence or score keeping we are often surprised when it is noticed.
Jesus knows us by the way we deal with other people – particularly the vulnerable, the needy and the difficult. Ours is not to judge, but to love. Amen
Prayers:
Lord Jesus, we are all both sheep and goats, loving and selfish, caring and complacent. Take the best of each one of us and shape it into that which can serve you and our community with more passion, more commitment, more humility, and more love, knowing our frailties, but rejoicing in your strength.
Lord Jesus, our King, we pray for those who are in positions of authority with responsibility for decision making at national, international and local level. We ask that you would give great wisdom, deep commitment and right judgement to them all. Help them to understand the needs of all their people and be compassionate and just in their decisions.
God of justice, in this time of great challenge we pray for the economic wellbeing of our country and other countries around the world. We remember before you God those who face job insecurity, those who have lost their jobs and all who face an uncertain and difficult future. We pray for a renewed commitment to our common life together.
Jesus, our teacher, we pray for those involved in the shaping of young lives. We give thanks for the sacrifice of teachers and all those who serve children and young people; we pray that all might be nurtured and cared for and that every needful resource will be made available so that all lives can flourish even in these difficult times.
Healing and compassionate God, we bring before you all those who suffer in body, mind, spirit or with grief. We ask that in your great loving kindness they might know his sustaining presence amidst their pain.
In a moment of silence we bring before you Lord, all those on our minds as we stand before you in prayer today………
Lead us through the parched and difficult days, we often suffer, to the fresh springs of joy and comfort that we find in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Hymn: 330: Joy to the world
| 1 Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King; let every heart prepare him room, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven, and heaven and nature sing. 2 Joy to the world, the Saviour reigns! Let all their songs employ; while fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy, repeat, repeat the sounding joy. | 3 He rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove the glories of his righteousness and wonders of his love, and wonders of his love, and wonders, wonders of his love. Isaac Watts (1674–1748) |
Blessing:
Circle us O God, keep hope within and despair without.
Circle us O God, keep peace within and turmoil out.
Circle us O God, Keep calm within and storms without.
Circle us O God, keep strength within and weakness out.
As we go into the new week and new Christian year, may we be continually aware of your presence within us Lord – guarding and guiding, leading and loving us in all we do and all we are.
Amen
